Active Dreaming Meditation

This active dreaming, walking meditation is great for helping you in areas of life you are stuck or with a problem. Originally from the American Indian tradition.

Transcript

Welcome to the Meditation on Active Dreaming with Peter Radcliffe.

Hi and welcome to this Meditation on Active Dreaming.

It's actually a meditation source from the American Indians who placed a lot of importance on getting answers from the natural world.

And you'll see that it combines both walking meditation with problem solving about issues that you have in life.

So in order to do this meditation we first of all have to think of an area of life where you feel stuck,

Where you would like to get some answers from.

And if you would like to shed some light into this area of knowledge then this is a fantastic meditation to do.

It also gets you up and walking around in nature so it's good to have a nice place to go but it can be done anywhere just walking outside.

So the way we do it is first of all we take our mind,

Our problem and make it very clear in our mind what that problem is.

We try to clarify maybe in one sentence what is it that we're looking for,

What answer are we looking for.

And then what you do is you place that question like on the back burner of your mind and then you go out just being open and aware into the environment and go for a walk down the beach or through the woods or around the neighborhood and just be open to what happens not thinking actively about the question but having it just sort of on the back burner.

Now go for a calm walk in nature if you've done walking meditation then try to take that meditative presence out with you as you go walking and be open to the universe presenting to you some sort of a symbol or some sort of a lesson something might pop out that's maybe more dramatic than anything else.

It may not be dramatic from the sense of you know a great huge sunset or something but just something that sort of lends itself to your consciousness.

It might simply be a puddle or a branch of a tree or an animal or the shape of a fence or something like that or the wind the sound it might be a sound or a feeling a feeling of wind on your face but something will eventually present it to present itself to your consciousness.

At this point in time just stop and ask the question what does this symbol have to teach you about your difficulty or what lessons can it give to you around the problem that you're trying to find answers with and then just stay with that in that space for a moment with no expectations.

It's important not to have any expectations in this meditation except for just enjoying the walk but if a solution is presented to you then that's great and just store that in yet special place you keep for such learnings.

Once we've looked at it through our own eyes I'd like you to then actually imagine being that symbol so if it was a tree that struck your attention imagine what it's like being that tree living in that particular place day after day year after year and notice the resources that you now have as that symbol the abilities the perseverance or whatever and see if any of those particular resources could be of use to you or an answer to you in your current problem state so that's being the symbol.

And then the third point of view that we'd like to look at is imagine floating up above yourself and the symbol and looking down at you and this thing in the environment which you've stopped to perceive and notice if there's any relationship what is the relationship or the connection between you and the symbol and again with no expectation just observe and see what comes to the mind and you might be surprised to find that very often answers do come not always but sometimes they do so be happy with that and then if you would like to continue with more answers then simply leave that symbol and go for another walk or keep walking until you find something else and you can repeat that as many times as you like and if you found the answers that you're looking for then you can come back to the where you began.

Now of course the American Indians would say that the universe is presenting a solution to you.

From a more kind of scientific point of view the way I like to look at it is that our unconscious has all the answers that we need already but we are sometimes stuck in accessing those answers through stress and throughout talking conscious mind and when we go out in nature and we just allow things to happen sometimes the answers bubble up from our unconscious mind in the form of symbols which take our attention in nature whichever way you explain it it doesn't really matter as long as you've got the answers that you are hoping for.

So I really love this meditation and I'm sure you will too.

Go ahead and give it a try and all the best.

Reviews

Brilliant Perspective

I'm curious ! I will try it. 🙏🏽

The directions for the walking meditation were very clear and insightful. I especially appreciated the different perspectives with which to look at the natural symbols.

Such a breakthrough loved it

Sounds like a good idea. As soon as the snow melts in the woods...

Very interesting. Yes, the subconscious, I do feel that if we can tap into our bodies needs rather than overriding them then life could be so much better. Unfortunately I am unable to walk or go outside as I am bedridden. Is there a way to apply this meditation to my circumstances?

So insightful, thank you.

Listen to this *before* your walking meditation. It's an excellent three-part technique for breaking through past resistance.

I like this idea and I will try it. Thank you!

Boing new at meditation, I found this very helpful, thank you!

A lovely idea for a meditation while I'm walking outside in nature. I will definitely try this.

Live this instruction- thank you. I will most definitely use it and share it with my clients.

Loved. Will do. Thank you. 🌞

It is what I do when taking a walk in the neighborhood. Think of it as a mini walking vision quest being one with nature.